Steel Research

At CAVS, we are actively expanding our steel
research interest and capabilities. Our current research focuses on developing various grades of
steel alloys, including structural steels and automotive advanced high strength steels, as well as
modeling efforts to understand and predict properties and performance. The highlight of the steel
research laboratory at CAVS is a well-equipped steel manufacturing facility. This facility allows for
the production of custom alloys to mimic commercial production on the small scale.

Next Generation Advanced High Strength Steels

The steel research team at CAVS is leveraging
multi-scale modeling, testing and characterization capabilities to develop 3rd generation advanced high
strength steels. These steels show a combination of strength and ductility higher than those of the 1st
generation steels, but doesn't have the prohibitive cost associated with manufacturing 2nd generation
steels, such as TWIP and fully austenitic stainless steels.

CAVS steel research team are closely working
with steel making partners by using ICME methods to explore novel metallurgical effects at the lower scale.
These can be exploited at the lab scale, and then lab-to-fab up-scaled to obtain innovative steel manufacturing
methods that are cost-effective, reliable, and can be integrated in current steel plant infrastructures.

Since relationships between powder
characteristics and processing parameters are not well understood, experiments are being undertaken to
investigate the impact of powders and parameters on the final material properties. Current work focuses
on an aerospace alloy commonly used in additive manufacturing, Ti-6Al-4V. One large parametric study
sponsored by the Army Research Laboratory is currently in progress to compare different powder production
methods, size distributions, morphologies, and reuse of powder. The study investigates effects of powder
characteristics and process parameters on LENS-fabricated parts according to an L36 Taguchi design. After
production of the test coupons, tensile properties and porosity will be evaluated to determine the effects
of powder characteristics. The extensive database of information collected during this study will also
feed into modeling efforts relating to additive manufacturing at CAVS.

By-product Recycling and Environmental Control

To produce iron for steelmaking, a blast
furnace is used to extract iron from iron ore. The process is
energy and raw material intensive and results in the release of greenhouse gases. According to estimates
by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), extraction of one ton of iron in the blast furnace
results in 2.5 to 3.5 tons of blast furnace gas by-products which consist of dust, nitrogen, carbon
monoxide and 12% (0.3~0.4 tons) of carbon dioxide. Ironmakers currently employ various methods to
reclaim the by-products and reduce emissions such as recycling of a portion of the gases to burn in the
blast furnace stoves. The concept of reduction of carbon dioxide during ironmaking is so important to
the steel industry that a consortium of 48 European companies has been built to cooperatively work
towards reducing carbon dioxide emissions in a project called ULCOS, Ultra Low Carbon Dioxide
Steelmaking. ULCOS has focused on reducing CO2 emissions at current facilities by capturing and storing
CO2. Our team is investigating innovative methods to apply technologies from other sectors to
steelmaking to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Our lab scale blast
furnace is located adjacent to our steel processing facility and consists of a 12” diameter cupola type
furnace with a custom gas collection system to collect and cool emissions from the furnace.

Steel Processing

To process our steel, it goes through a
variety of subprocesses. The Steel is first melted in a vacuum induction furnace with its alloying
elements, it is cast in one of many molds to form an ingot, then it is reheated, rolled, and head treated.
To learn more about the process, click the link below.